<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>It Takes A Village by Veresiine</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22821652">It Takes A Village</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Veresiine/pseuds/Veresiine'>Veresiine</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>World of Warcraft</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gen, Minor Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 12:15:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,184</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22821652</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Veresiine/pseuds/Veresiine</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>All OCs all the time.</p><p>The events of Legion told from the perspective of Aquendria, a young night elf, and how she came to find her family of choice.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>It Takes A Village</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I frequently use character nicknames. For reference,<br/>Aquendria -&gt; Quendri<br/>Eresiine -&gt; Eres<br/>Verkira -&gt; Verk<br/>Marelan -&gt; Mar<br/>Telaina -&gt; Tel</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For most of Aquendria's life, her mother was all she had.</p><p><br/>
She never knew her father, and she learned not to ask about him, but that was all right. She had her mother. Her mother was enough.</p><p><br/>
They didn't really have a place to call home. They were constantly on the move. A female druid and a girl who wanted to be a mage had difficulty finding acceptance, and her mother's work for the Cenarion Circle took them all over the world, anyway.</p><p><br/>
Aquendria had wanted to be a mage for as long as she could remember. Her mother obviously didn't approve, but she didn't outright punish her either. Oh, she had gotten quite the scolding when she learned a few basic cantrips from an old spellbook she found in an abandoned camp at one point, but her mother mostly stuck to gently trying to talk her out of it.</p><p><br/>
'Magic is addictive, sweet child, and that's why it feels so good when you use those spells. But it's not good for you in the long run,' her mother had said. Aquendria, however, was set in her path. She didn't cast for a while and didn't feel anything wrong, other than not being happy. Arcane magic just felt so right in a way Elune's light or her exposure to the magic of nature hadn't.</p><p><br/>
Aquendria wanted to be a good daughter, but she also knew what she wanted.</p><p><br/>
And she knew her mother loved her. Even when they couldn't stay in a settlement or make proper camp, Cyrowena always made sure to give her daughter the comfiest place to rest that she could weave from living plants.</p><p><br/>
.</p><p><br/>
Aquendria had never been to a city as large as Dalaran before, and she was overwhelmed at first with all the new sights and sounds and smells. On the way to the hotel her mother told her they would be staying at, she saw a human mage demonstrating various spells for a group of children about Aquendria's age and handing out ice cream. Even though she didn't get the chance to walk over and participate, just seeing that made her feel at home already.</p><p><br/>
Her mother took her to a hotel and told her that the Circle was paying for her lodgings while she went to fight demons. She asked Aquendria to be a good girl, because she would be back before she knew it.</p><p><br/>
And then she left.</p><p><br/>
Quendri was happy at first to have no parental supervision. The hotel provided food whenever she wanted, and she could practice those basic cantrips without fear of being caught. One of the workers at the hotel <em>had</em> caught her practicing at one point, but had just chuckled and said to be careful, that he had a daughter around her age who was looking into apprenticeships so he knew what could go wrong with spells like that.</p><p><br/>
As the days wore on, however, she came to really truly <em>miss</em> her mother and her presence. She wondered how she could be homesick when she'd never had a home, but that hardly seemed to matter. No one at the hotel could tell her when her mother could be back, no matter how much she begged and pleaded.</p><p><br/>
When Cyrowena did return, she found Aquendria curled up on bed, hugging a pillow and crying. She had immediately swept her daughter into an embrace, and Aquendria hoped she'd never let go.</p><p><br/>
Her mother talked with the staff and told her that she was willing to entertain the idea of getting her some proper magical instruction, just to avoid any accidents.</p><p><br/>
Quendri didn't have time to be excited. Her mother was called away by the Circle again and told Quendri that it was too dangerous for her to come along. She said that instead of staying by herself, she'd be leaving her in the care of a friend of hers from the last mission, a priest from the Conclave. She said that she'd be back soon, so she wanted Quendri to behave and be a good girl like she had before.</p><p><br/>
Eresiine was nice and kind and caring but she was strange and she wasn't Cyrowena.</p><p><br/>
Her hair was black and curly, not white and straight. Her skin was blue, not purple. She was at least half a head taller than Cyrowena, probably because her legs were like a goat's so she was on her toenails -- hooves -- all the time. She smelled like charged magic and clean laundry, not nature and flowers and earth. She had horns and tendrils and a tail. She was naturally awake at day and sleepy at night, though her actual sleep pattern was all over the place. She cooked different meals and did Quendri's hair and face paint differently from Cyrowena. She tried, but it wasn't the same.</p><p><br/>
Quite a few people came to visit Eresiine, and some of them called her 'mom'. Quendri found herself thinking that Eresiine was so busy being everyone's mom that she didn't have time to be any one person's mom.</p><p><br/>
But she was gentle and sweet and Quendri knew that Eresiine loved her. Quendri guessed that made her like an aunt. And her real mom would be back soon enough; things would get back to normal.</p><p><br/>
In the meantime, she tried to get used to living with Eresiine. Most everyone either called her Anchorite or Eres. Quendri decided that she liked 'Anchorite' so she started calling Eresiine that too. She almost didn't notice the hurt in Eresiine's eyes when she did.</p><p><br/>
Quendri got to know Eresiine's friends. One of the first ones whose name she learned was Orlaney. He was a young human with eyes like the ocean. She knew he wasn't ancient like her mother or Eresiine, but his beard was trying to make him look older. He had told her that she was strong and she could be a warrior if she wanted. But she knew what she wanted, and it wasn't to be a warrior.</p><p><br/>
.</p><p><br/>
Quendri heard whispers one morning when she was supposed to be asleep. She tried to tell herself it was just Conclave business again but she knew deep down it wasn't. The air was too tense; something bad had happened.</p><p><br/>
Quendri went down to investigate. She saw Eresiine standing in the doorway, with a cup of coffee in her hand, talking to a druid. The druid noticed her presence first, and looked at her with such sad eyes that Quendri just <em>knew</em>. He didn't have to say a word but she knew. She ran back up the stairs and started wailing.</p><p><br/>
.</p><p><br/>
Verkira, another friend of Eresiine's, said that she could tutor Quendri in magic. Quendri wanted to be happy that she was finally getting her wish, but she couldn't be.</p><p><br/>
Orlaney and Eres told her to be brave and that it was okay to hurt. Quendri didn't want to worry them and she didn't want them to pity her, either. So she smiled, but she wasn't happy.</p><p><br/>
She tried to focus on magic. She thought that Verk was her age at first; she was an elf of around the same height, and the others often treated her like she was a kid, too. But she was fully grown; she was Thalassian, not Darnassian, and she was five times Quendri's age.</p><p><br/>
Quendri quickly learned that Verkira wasn't an ideal tutor. She was always hesitant to demonstrate the spells, even though she was very good at explaining theory.</p><p><br/>
Quendri asked if it was because Verk was a paladin. Verk hung her head, and her light brown hair slid over her face at an angle where all Quendri could see of her face was her nose, strong and sturdy just like her, and she admitted that being a paladin was part of it.</p><p><br/>
And then she brightened and her hair slid back behind her ears and she offered to buy Quendri another muffin.</p><p><br/>
Quendri wanted coffee like Eresiine drank. It took a lot of convincing, but the others agreed to let her have some.</p><p><br/>
It was too bitter.</p><p><br/>
.</p><p><br/>
Another apprentice mage named May moved in with them. They weren't a boy and they weren't a girl, and that confused Quendri a bit, but she got used to it. It was nice having someone close to her age around; May was eight years older, but that was still much closer than anyone else she'd seen.</p><p><br/>
Then May was gone as soon as they came; their legal guardian was -- grudgingly -- rescued, and they didn't need to stay with Eresiine anymore, though they promised to write, and gave Quendri a fist bump as they went out the door.</p><p><br/>
May kept their word, and sometimes dropped by to help with lessons.</p><p><br/>
.</p><p><br/>
Verk had to go. She said that she would be back soon and that maybe the library book they were waiting for would finally be in by the time she got back.</p><p><br/>
Quendri wanted to believe her.</p><p><br/>
Verk's brother, Marelan, took over her tutoring. He was blind, so he couldn't help as much with the paperwork, but he was good at encouraging her, and he knew what spells felt like when they were right and when they were wrong, so he drilled her on the practice that Verk was hesitant to.</p><p><br/>
Quendri was embarrassed to admit that at first she thought he had tattoos like a night elf woman, but she learned they were freckles and scars, instead. She thought he'd be upset when she asked, but he laughed it off.</p><p><br/>
Quendri decided that when she was old enough for tattoos instead of face paint, she wanted icicles.</p><p><br/>
To give it a try, she asked Eresiine to do her face paint that way. Eres tried.</p><p><br/>
.</p><p><br/>
A human druid named Oli made her cry by handing out flyers on the dangers of magic. Why couldn't she just be accepted!? It was bad enough that her own people didn't approve of her path; why couldn't she find acceptance even in the city of mages!?</p><p><br/>
But Oli felt bad about it and Quendri could see the warmth and worry in her dark brown eyes behind her glasses, even as Eres shooed her off.</p><p><br/>
Orlaney showed her juggling to cheer her up. She decided she wanted to learn as well.</p><p><br/>
She went to hang out with Marelan and Orlaney for lessons again.</p><p><br/>
Coffee was still too bitter.</p><p><br/>
.</p><p><br/>
Verk came back. A part of her ear didn't. Verk and the others laughed it off, but Quendri was worried and knew Marelan was too. It was too close.</p><p><br/>
And then something happened at the Conclave. No, Quendri learned, it wasn't just the Conclave; all the class halls were affected. Eresiine was thrown. Her body was there and she would move but she wouldn't speak.</p><p><br/>
Quendri knew that Eres wasn't mom and couldn't ever be mom but she didn't want to lose her, too. She only relaxed a little when the other draenei who came told her that this happened to Eresiine sometimes and she would be fine.</p><p><br/>
Quendri learned their names. Onoras was a merchant and he gave her a necklace with an amethyst pendant that he said was good for an aspiring mage.</p><p><br/>
Revenis was big. All of him was big; his laugh, his smile, his heart. He and Onoras were the only people Quendri had ever seen who were taller than Eres.</p><p><br/>
Rataalis was stern and scarred but when he stepped into the room, Quendri saw Eres relax and her tail swished from side to side instead of hanging limp like the rest of her.</p><p><br/>
.</p><p><br/>
They met another draenei one day at the cafe. She was a shaman named Valuora. Eresiine started to talk again. Quendri started to feel like things might be OK.</p><p><br/>
She heard Orlaney talk about adopting her. Eresiine said that it was Quendri's decision. Quendri didn't know what to say. She liked Orlaney but she wasn't ready for an official new family.</p><p><br/>
But she had to stay with him anyway. Eres had to go to the front lines along with the other draenei and Verk.</p><p><br/>
Quendri cried herself to sleep the first few nights.</p><p><br/>
Orlaney's girlfriend came over. Telaina. Quendri had heard bad things about her from Verk and wary things from Eres, but Telaina seemed nice. Sharp, but there was tenderness underneath. Orlaney compared her to a rose; Quendri was inclined to agree. Again, Quendri found herself looking for tattoos, and saw that Tel painted around her eyes. Quendri asked, but Tel said that no, that's just makeup, there is no ritual or cultural purpose to it, it's just to look pretty. But she said that when she was younger, she used to wear face paint like Quendri; some Thalassian rangers retained that tradition. So Quendri let Tel do her face paint instead of struggling with it herself. For the first time since her mother had left, Quendri was happy with the results.</p><p><br/>
It wasn't just face paint. Tel was a real wizard, not just someone with a lot of training like Verk or an apprentice like May. She covered the things that Verk couldn't.<br/>
.<br/>
Quendri knew the world was in danger but she found that all that really mattered to her was family.</p><p><br/>
Tel told her that it was OK and her feelings were valid and she could use that to her advantage; she could protect the world TO protect her family, when she was older, if altruism failed her.</p><p><br/>
Life with Orlaney and Tel was good, Quendri supposed, but she missed her mom and she missed the others. Marelan routinely sent the others care packages, and sometimes he would get letters back. Quendri would read the reply letters to him, so they both knew the others were safe.</p><p><br/>
She learned how to keep two balls in the air. She wanted to be able to juggle at least three at once, but it was difficult, and learning magic was difficult too. Orlaney said that it was hard to learn to juggle for him, too, and he was only able to master it because he had a LOT of free time on Draenor after things settled down.</p><p><br/>
Tel told her that juggling was good and that she'd need that hand eye coordination as a mage. Quendri asked if Tel could juggle; Tel looked down and said that she <em>could</em>. But then she smiled and said she did it with magic these days.</p><p><br/>
Orlaney kept working on his book. He said he wanted to settle down and hang up his armor, his sword, and his shield, and become a librarian when the war was over.</p><p><br/>
.</p><p><br/>
And then there was a flurry of news, good and bad, but the others were back and that was all that mattered.</p><p><br/>
She just remembered how it felt, in everyone's arms, with some of them crying from joy or relief. That's when she knew they were <em>family</em>.</p><p><br/>
.</p><p><br/>
She learned more about everyone. Rataalis liked cats and knitting. Revenis wanted to be an artist, but something happened with his dad and he became a paladin instead. Onoras had a big crush on Eresiine but she wasn't interested in romance and they could still be friends even if there were disagreements sometimes.</p><p><br/>
Tel was a blood elf, not a night elf, but it turned out that some more traditions, beyond face paint, had carried over among the rangers. So Quendri had someone to talk to about her people and her heritage, even if it was distanced. Tel had told her to keep it a secret because she didn't want the others to think differently of her.</p><p><br/>
Mar was from a ranger family, too, and that was no secret, but he didn't know as much as Tel did; they interacted more with arts and crafts projects.</p><p><br/>
Verk would always be correcting Orlaney's form, and then Mar would correct Verk's form. Rataalis would then try to correct Marelan's form, but he said that it wouldn't work because he didn't have a tail to counterbalance.</p><p><br/>
Quendri wanted to be a mage and that hadn't changed, but she saw Verk and Tel using spellblades and thought back to Orlaney telling her she could be a warrior. She said that she wanted to join in, but the others said she was too young, but they could get her a wooden training sword if she wanted.</p><p><br/>
Verk said that she didn't get her first real sword until she was 16, and shared an awkward silence with Marelan for a second before he laughed and said that he thought her mother was going to kill him until her father intervened, saying that Verk was going to get a sword no matter what and it was better if she got one from her big brother in law who knew a good quality sword that would suit her rather than letting her pick one out for herself with no clue.</p><p><br/>
And then Quendri got a training sword and then EVERYONE started correcting HER form.</p><p><br/>
.</p><p><br/>
Jez was a friend of May's and Verk's who liked baking pies and quick breads. She had hair like Quendri's, which was comforting. She would stop by sometimes with her latest creations, and Eresiine would trade them for some of her cooking. Orlaney would cough and say that at least it wasn't frostweed stew for the millionth time.</p><p><br/>
May and Felix continued to drop by on occasion; May would talk to Quendri about her lessons and magic, and reassure her that she would be a great mage someday since she was learning from some of the best.</p><p><br/>
Oli started showing up, too. It was awkward at first, because of how they met, but Marelan managed to get Eresiine to stop glaring daggers at Oli and that helped. It also helped when they learned that Oli and Eres shared a friend; a druid with no druidic magic named Fashra who, had he not been a night elf, probably would have become a botanist rather than a druid.</p><p><br/>
Oli could talk with Quendri about druidic magic and kaldorei traditions, which Quendri appreciated. She loved her new family, but she missed her mom and her people. Oli was human, yes, but she was a druid and she had taken shelter in Teldrassil after Gilneas fell, so she understood things the others didn't, not even Tel.</p><p><br/>
One day, Oli mentioned that, while it might bte too soon for Quendri to hear, she had run into her mother in the Emerald Dream. It wasn't quite the same because death changes people, even druids who transition to the Dream after their mortal time was up, but she was there and she loved her, and if nothing else, that stayed the same.</p><p><br/>
.</p><p><br/>
They were never all together at once, and Quendri found herself moving back and forth between apartments and sometimes cities as the others spread out after the war. The adults said that they worried that all the moving would be hard on her, but Quendri said it was fine; she had been on the move her entire life and that wouldn't change now.</p><p><br/>
No matter where they went or what happened, she had her family and that was enough.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading!<br/>Orlaney and Valuora are a friend's OCs, not mine.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>